Baba Ramdev Says He Was Denied US Visa For Being A Bachelor

"Babaji, you are unmarried..."

INDORE -- Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, face of the Rs. 4,500- crore Patanjali Group, was once denied a U.S. visa because he was a bachelor and did not have a a bank account. But later he was invited to the country and granted a 10-year visa when he was to address the United Nations, the yoga guru told the Global Investor Summit here on Saturday.

"I asked for reasons, they said Babaji you don't have a bank account, which I still don't have, and you are unmarried ... There could be some issues there, they said, but I insisted there is no possibility of any of that. Yet they denied me a visa," Ramdev said. He, however, did not indicate the year in which he had applied for the visa.

Ramdev, who shared the dais with several industrialists, including Anil Ambani and Gopichand Hinduja, as well as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, said spiritual leaders were global citizens.

"I was asked by the Finance Minister what capacity I was here as. I am here as a global citizen," Ramdev said.